Head of recruitment Melville and goalkeeping coach Day leave Cobblers in backroom shake-up

Keith Curle has moved swiftly to make more changes to the backroom staff at the Cobblers, with head of recruitment Andy Melville among a trio leaving the club.

Also on the way out are goalkeeping coach Chris Day, who has been replaced in that role by Dan Watson, and assistant sports scientist Jack Baxter.

Day was appointed by previous manager Dean Austin in August, and joins Austin’s assistant Andy Todd in leaving the club following the backroom team shake-up, with Curle also having brought in Colin West as his assistant.

Melville leaves the club after more than two years as head of recruitment, having initially been appointed when Chris Wilder was still Town manager, at the back end of the 2015/16 league two title winning season.

A club statement read: “Northampton Town manager Keith Curle has reshuffled his backroom staff at the PTS Academy Stadium.

“Joining the club is goalkeeping coach Dan Watson. As a player, Watson began at Derby County before joining Wolverhampton Wanderers and then Luton Town.

“In terms of his coaching career, he has previously been goalkeeping coach at Port Vale for three years, and joins the Cobblers having most recently held the same position at Carlisle United.

“As Watson arrives, previous goalkeeping coach Chris Day departs the club, along with assistant sports scientist Jack Baxter and the club’s head of recruitment Andy Melville.

“The club would like to thank all three for their service and wish each of them every success for the future.”

Watson was Curle’s goalkeeping coach at Carlisle United, and it was announced by the Cumbrians earlier today that he had left the league two club ‘for personal reasons’.

Having spent more than a year at Brunton Park, Watson, who lives in Wolverhampton, said: “”I’ve really enjoyed my time at Brunton Park and I’ve met some fantastic people through my stay here.

“I have a huge amount of respect for John Sheridan and his staff, but I’ve had to make this decision for family reasons.

“It hasn’t been easy, but I felt it better to let the manager know my personal situation so that he can make his decisions and keep pushing the team and the club on to where we all want it to be.

“I’d like to thank him, director of football David Holdsworth and the rest of the directors for being so understanding. It goes without saying that I wish everyone at the club all the very best.”

Watson also tweeted: “Would like to thank everybody at @officialcufc for making my time there very pleasurable. I’m sure you won’t miss my midlands accent - as I won’t miss the M6 drive. But wish the club all the best for the future.”